With problems created by continuously depleting oil and natural gas supplies many people are returning to wood stoves for use as secondary, or even primary, sources of heat for their houses. There have been many developments in the wood stove art of late, perhaps the most significant being the air-tight stove which greatly prolongs the combustion time of the combustible material, usually wood, while providing an optimum amount of heat. Such stoves represent a considerable improvement, but still have certain drawbacks. In particular it is still necessary to directly stoke the combustion chamber, or fire box, with wood or other material and to empty the stove of ashes when combustion has ceased. Also, while combustion times have increased they have not as yet reached their optimum or maximum extents.